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Friday, May 29, 2009

For today’s post I did a Garden Layout using some of my favourite photos of my daughter Cheyenne when she was a baby. I spread the layout over 2 pages so that it did not look all crammed into one page. She was a real ‘outside’ girl and just loved the garden and all the messy dirt that went with it. A short time in the garden would solve any tears or grumpy days she had.

QUICKUTZ TREE BORDER CC-BDR-021QUICKUTZ PINWHEEL QC-0010-S to make the leaves for the backs of the flowers on the trees and kept them in place with some silver brads. The flowers I used are the smallest size of the Kaisercraft flowers.

We received nine very cute card entries for our Card Sketch Contest. It was tough to choose just one. But after discussing this with the blog team we decided that our winner is................................................

Carrie Buss! Congratulations!

You can email the Scrapping Cottage with your choice of a 4x8 Quickutz Alphabet!

Thanks to all those that participated, we hope you will join us for our next contest coming soon.

The Scalloped Nesting Squares from the May Quickutz release are must haves for your die collection. They are great for journaling spots or for layering with other shapes. The scalloped edge is such a simple way to add more interest to your paper crafting projects.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

I have been using my Silhouette A LOT lately. Isn't funny how you go for awhile not using one of your tools and then all of a sudden *BAM* you can't scrap without it!

One of the greatest advantages of the Quickutz Silhouette is its ability to cut any True Type Font you have loaded onto your computer. There are virtually 1000's of fonts available for free all over the internet. All you have to do is Google "Free Fonts" and you'll find tons of sites to get fun new fonts for your Silhouette. However, if you don't know how to download these fonts into your Fonts Folder, you will not be able to access them from your Silhouette software.

My tip for today is to show you how to create a shortcut on your Desktop for your Fonts Folder to make this downloading process much simpler!

In order to first locate your Fonts Folder, take the following steps:

Go to your Start MenuThen click on the Control Panel (You must be in Classic View!!)Now you'll see your Fonts Folder

Now that you have located your fonts folder, you'll want to create a shortcut on your desktop. Simply RIGHT CLICK on the Fonts Folder Icon and select "Create Shortcut".

Place the new shortcut onto your Desktop.

Now you can easily drag and drop new fonts into your new Fonts folder shortcut. Just make sure when you are downloading fonts, that you open all files until you get the True Type version. This is the one you want to drag and drop into your Fonts Folder. Then your computer will do the rest!!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

You must have an obvious likeness to this sketch and it must be newly created for this contest. The winner will receive one Quickutz 4x8 Alphabet of their choice.

Your entries must be emailed to scrappingcottage@cox.net by midnight on Wednesday, May 27th with CARD SKETCH CONTEST MAY 2009 in the subject line.

Below are two example of cards made from this sketch. Beverly did this gorgeous Sympathy card and Kay did a manly Father's Day card (I promised I would do manly cards this month) using the Quickutz Chocolate 4x8 Alphabet and 2x2 bracket die from April's release.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Be sure to check out The NEW COTTAGECUTZ SUMMER RELEASE Dies. Pre-Order yours today and take advantage of the special introductory price. These new Cottage dies are FANTASTIC and I'm sure they will sell quickly. Check them out at THE SCRAPPING COTTAGE and see what I'm talking about. Trust me - you'll be sorry if you miss out.note:- Introductoty Price will expire on Wed, May 27th. Pre-Order your CottageCutz June Release now and enjoy great savings.

PENGUIN PARADE

This week I did a single page layout of my Husband and his Brother using photos which I took of them just before his brother’s wedding. I found it very difficult to take a serious photo of them and maybe it was just their nerves, but I couldn’t help thinking that maybe the saying ‘boys never ever really grow up’ seemed so true at that moment and even though they look like men, they will always be boys at heart :-) In my layout I used the adorable COTTAGECUTZ PENGUIN DIE SC-CC-009 because I always thought that the suits they were wearing reminded me of penguins. The COTTAGE CUTZ penguins are about 4”x2” when made up and are very easy to put together. They are a perfect size for scrapbooking layouts. I also used:-QUICKUTZ DISCO ALPHABET FONT 4X8-DISCO-M(ON SALE NOW - HAVE A LOOK IN STORE)QUICKUTZ OLIVIA ALPHABET NUMBERSQUICKUTZ SIGN RS-0265QUICKUTZ CLOUDS BORDER DIE CC-BDR-032, QUICKUTZ TREES BORDER DIE CC-BDR-018,TIM HOLTZ DISTRESS INKS (VINTAGE PHOTO & WALNUT STAIN)

Our family has been blessed this year as we have the incredibleprivilege of being a part of sending a very special family toDisneyland this summer. One of the precious teachers at ourchildren's school was diagnosed with cancer this year and theentire school has joined together to make their Disney dreamscome true! We hope their vacation is half as wonderful as they are!

I am creating this book to present to them on the day our schoolsurprises them with this magical gift. I am not completely finishedyet but I wanted to share a little bit of the magic with you!

I was shuffling throught my CottageCutz dies to get someinspiration and this adorable CottageCutz Tree with Hearts and leaves jumped right out of thepackage and into my hand!Walla....a Mickey Mouse tree was born! I may still add some leavesand hearts to the tree but I wanted to show you how versatileand ingenious this wonderful die is. It is one of my favorites!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

OK, now granted, it isn't really going to be that hard to find the new release die in this layout. But did you ever expect to see one of the new Special Occasion dies from the May Quickutz Release used in a Halloween layout? I received a bunch of these new dies in the mail today so of course I couldn't wait to start playing. I think the 2x2 Pears are just so cute that I was dying to use them first.

I decided to surf the internet to see if I could come up with a catchy little phrase about pears. All of a sudden I saw a saying about gourds and it hit me...turn these little babies around, take of the stem, and with a little distressing, they look like those colorful Fall gourds and other odd shaped pumpkins you see every year. So I got out all of my other QK Pumpkin dies to make a fun little cluster of different shaped pumpkins. I also used the Supermarket 4x8 Alpha for my title (which I believe is my absolute favorite of the 4x8 alphas!!)

These new shapes from the Quickutz May Release aren't just for weddings! I live in the land of "all things princess" so of course I immediately set out to make this Rev Wedding Dress Die look a little more princessy and a little less like a wedding dress. In order to add a bit of princess gown detail, I took the center portion of one the 2x2 brackets and placed it in the middle of the gown instead of the sash that comes with the die. I also used pieces of glitter cardstock to really give the gown some extra sparkle.

Don' forget when you are placing your order for these new Quickutz dies to include the FREE Club Die for all Quickutz/Cottage Cutz orders over $50!!

You still have plenty of time to enter our monthly drawing for your choice of one of the new Quickutz Dies from this release by leaving a comment HERE telling us what your favorites are from the May release (alphabet not included).

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Have you heard about the COPIC Ciao marker craze? Well, I'm hooked! Today I want to show you an easy way to work with those dies that generally need multiple colors.

The Ciao markers have 2 tips, I like to use the brush tip the most. These are alcohol based so they can be blended together and colored over each other for a darker color.

I took a white piece of Bazzill cardstock and applied a piece of the Quickutz Double-sided adhesive and ran this through my Revolution with the CottageCutz Cupcake tier.

Then I started coloring in the pieces with my Ciao markers. This went really quick, the thing that takes the longest is deciding what colors you want.

OK, here are my colored pieces, next I went over some of the pieces multiple times with my markers to show some detail. You can see below which ones I've gone over more than the initial coloring in to get the details I want.

Then I just peeled them off like a sticker and placed them on my card. I used my Stickles to detail the pink frosting and the cherries.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

OK, I know it's Quickutz release day but I promised I would stick to the manly cards this month.

I was so excited to get my hands on the Quickutz Spring Gift sets. I used the RELAX gift set for this sailboat card. I cut out the pieces to the sailboat and then inked around the edges with some daubers. This card could easily say "Happy Father's Day" instead of Happy Birthday.

If you haven't gotten any of the Spring gift sets, don't wait because there is a limited supply.

This month's Quickutz release is all about celebrations! But just because you don't have a wedding to scrap, don't think there aren't some dies in this release for you. Quickutz has also released some must-have scalloped nesting shapes as well as some great new 12" borders. And of course, now is the time to take advantage of Scrapping Cottage's bundle deals on these new release dies. There are lots of possibilities for using these new dies so be sure to check the Blog regularly all week long as we post our projects using these new dies.When you are placing your order, make sure to include your *FREE* Club Die for purchases over $50. These dies go so fast so you want to be sure not to miss it! Plus, check out the Cottage Cutzsection to see if there aren't one or two of those dies you have been waiting to order that you could stick in with your new May Quickutz Dies.And last but not least...did you think I forgot about our Monthly giveaway?! Just leave a comment on THIS POST telling us which Quickutz die from the new May release is your favorite and you will be entered into a drawing for a free die of your choice (alphabets not included). You have until midnight Saturday to post your comments! The winner will be announced on Sunday.

Monday, May 18, 2009

One of the new June Sizzix releases is the Bigz XL Cupcake Card & Pocket die. It is a fun die towork with. I called this card "Secret" Cupcake because when you cut all the pieces and putthem together they form a "pocket." I immediately thought what a neat place this would be toslip in some birthday money (or check). I used Stickles glitter glue and mini-marbles forthe icing and sprinkles on the cupcake. :) I also cut an extra cupcake liner and ran it through a paper crimper to make my cupcake seem like the real thing. :) Be sure to check outall the great new June Sizzix releases at Scrapping Cottage.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

This week I have not been feeling well and have started medication that makes me drowzy and feeling like I'm floating in the clouds :-) so I have had to settle with making a quick and simple card to share with you this week. I used the QUICKUTZ CLOUDS BORDER DIE CC-BDR-032, QUICKUTZ CLOUD AND RAINBOW DIE CC-SHAPE-2-022, and both the QUICKUTZ MUSHROOMS REV-0188-S and the QUICKUTZ 2X2 HOUSE DIE KS-0935 to make the mushroom Castle. I also used the TIM HOLTZ DISTRESS INK to ink my die cuts before I placed onto my card. Hopefully I'll be up and about soon ready to start on next weeks post :-)

This new chipboard makes creating your own mini book so quick and easy! No more tracing and cutting your paper down to the right size and then having to sand the edges in order to have a nice clean finished product. I just used the Nesting Label Die to cut my page shapes and then used the same die to cut my patterned papers. Then, you pull off the adhesive backing from the chipboard piece and lay your patterned paper right onto the chipboard page. Perfect fit every time! Then I used my Bind-it-All to bind my little album together using 3/8" O-wires.

You will see several other Quickutz products used throughout this book including the Chocolate Alpha, the Chick-a-dee (which I received for my birthday!), and even Chemistry on the very last page. The Revolution machine was created using the Quickutz Tools Club Die (you never want to miss out on the club dies!!) and some of the Quickutz Metal Sheets. I used my 2x2 Flourish Goosebumpz to add the design on the side of the machine to replicate the actual Revolution. On an earlier page, I also used this month's Club Die the Polka-Dot Arrow (how cute is that!)